The Howling Delve - Jaleigh Johnson [71]
"Take the warning," he repeated.
Angrily, Meisha shouted, "What warning? We can't take any warning anywhere! We're trapped here, just like you. Unless you can show us the way out, your message won't go ten paces without hitting a wall and splintering into silence."
The dwarf took a step forward. Talal whimpered, clutching at her clothes. "Stop. He'll kill us. He killed Braedrin."
"No, he didn't," said Meisha, shaking the boy off. "The choker killed Braedrin." She looked back at the dwarf. "Something else killed him, something else broke his axe. Is that what you want to keep hidden-the fire beast?"
"And the magic that violates the stone," said the dwarf.
Meisha felt Talal stir behind her, but he kept silent. "Varan's tinkerings?" she asked.
"Magic builds upon magic, layer by layer, century upon century, until it is too bright and terrible to comprehend. We collected the power here, and the power brought the beast. It was not our intention, and now we must pay for our crime. We must keep him bound."
"That's where Varan is getting his components," Meisha realized. "The secret caverns are yours. All those years ago, he found one of your bolt-holes. He created an extra-dimensional pocket to get to them, and now he's plundering the magic you left behind to make his toys."
"The gathering power will wake the beast. He seeks release; the walls are breaking down. Soon he will be free."
"We can't subdue Varan without risking him bringing down the whole cavern system," Meisha said. "We need help." Take the warning. She grasped her Harper pin as an idea began to form. "Your power affected this," she said. "Can you affect the same object, at a greater distance? Can you push your power through the earth?"
"I can," the dwarf said. "There will be a price."
Meisha didn't like the sound of that, but she didn't see any other way. "The closest person…" Gods, she thought, when I tell him it's Balram, he'll come running. He won't know what to make of this. "It will have to travel over many miles," she told the dwarf.
"What are you doing?" Talal wanted to know.
"Sending a message," said Meisha.
"What is it?" Kali asked.
Kali and Dantane stood over the wizard's worktable while Dantane sifted through the charred remnants of the magic that had killed the lute player, Dynon Chadossa.
"Whatever the outcome, the magic's intended effect was to create an illusion, something to make the boy appear and sound as a woman to conceal his identity," Dantane said.
"I spoke with his family privately this morning," said Kail. "Lord Chadossa, as far as I could tell, appeared genuinely baffled. He was unaware his son even enjoyed music, let alone possessed a talent for bardcraft."
"It would appear Dynon didn't want his father to know about his shameful hobby," Dantane observed as he dug out one of the charred roots for closer inspection.
"There's no profit in bardcraft in Amn, not if you're the son of a wealthy lumber merchant," said Kali. "The boy must have realized his family would be subject to ridicule if word got out that he spent his nights plucking a lute instead of helping his father challenge the Bladesmiles for their stake in the lumber trade. He'd've done better building instruments instead of playing them."
"The punishment will be much wotse now that he's been killed employing a magical device-a faulty one at that." Dantane tossed the root aside and went for another.
"There will be no retribution from the families," Kail said. "Chadossa has seen to that."
Dantane taised an eyebrow. "Oh? Amn has suddenly developed a forgiving nature when lives are threatened by horrific wizardry?"
"The family officially reported Dynon missing as of this morning. A search is underway, but the outlook is unfavorable. The Lady Chadossa is sick with grief, or so I'm told," Kali said, his voice flat. "The body of the lute playet is being reported as an unidentified human female, as many witnesses can attest."
"You know it's Chadossa's son. Chadossa knows."
"Yes, but in the lord's words, 'sullying his family's name with